An Introduction To Yahoo Gemini

Are you looking for a way to expand your reach in Display advertising? Like most PPC advertisers, you have likely delved into interest based targeting and remarketing on Google’s Display Network. Beyond Google is another display tactic worth testing – Yahoo Gemini.

Gemini showcases ads within the Yahoo and Yahoo Partner site network. The program is not part of Bing Ads and your ads will not show on any Bing, Microsoft or Bing affiliate properties within the YBN (Yahoo Bing Network). Your YBN ads being managed through bingads.com will be opted into Gemini unless you opt out (more info here).

Gemini does offer mobile and tablet inventory for your search text ads with native ads being offered on all devices. A native ad may appear within a steam of content including the search engine results page on Yahoo.com. Basically, it is a way to blur the lines between online content and advertising that is less abrasive and to the consumer, feels like a more natural way to digest the information.

After you log into Gemini you will find this screen, which will include an option to create a new campaign. See below:

First you will find yourself being asked whether the campaign will be for branding purposes or to drive traffic to the website. This will later be displayed as a ‘Goal’ within the interface. Here is what that looks like:

Or:

Once you decide what the goal of the campaign will be you can begin to create your ads. The first thing you will need is an image that will need to be 1200 X 627 pixels. Not meeting these criteria will be clearly displayed after the image is uploaded. For example:

Once your image has been sized correctly you will see a green check mark next to the edit link. See below:

Now that your image is sized correctly you will need to make sure that the Basic Image (second image above) includes a portion of your Large Image that will make the best ad.

Now that your images are sized and cropped you can move on to the messaging. If the goal of your campaign is to drive traffic to the website you may want different messaging than a branding campaign. Keep your goal in mind while writing. Here is how this section will look with an example ad that promotes Hero Conf.

As you can see, you can view your ad on the right and keep track of character limits next to each portion of the ad. When you are done, click “Save Ad.”

Now that you have created your first ad, you are ready to think about targeting. If you have created Display campaigns in AdWords you will be familiar with keyword, demographic and interest targeting. Like all campaigns you will have the ability to language and geo-target as well.

You can browse the different interests and if you have an ad created you may have some suggested keywords appear prior to adding your own. Remember, on the content network keywords are broad match. Meaning, the keyword above “Hanapin marketing” could match to any content or search query that contains “Hanapin” or “marketing” separately. Think about how this could impact the type of content you will show up along side. You can edit these targeting setting at any point; so don’t worry about testing something and being stuck with it forever. If you are interested in setting up script automation for these campaigns, which would include optimizing and measuring performance, apply for a Gemini API.

Now that your targeting is set up, you will need to set up the daily budget and CPCs. If you click the “advanced pricing” link on the top right you will be given an option to designate a mobile CPC separate from desktop. See images below.

Advanced Pricing:

Now that you have set up your campaign the final step will be to add funding. You can do this by credit card and it is pretty simple to set up. Good Luck! (don’t forget to look for a credit for being a first time users!)

In this new live webinar, Kristin Vick from Hanapin Marketing and Jeff Sauer from Jeffalytics discuss how marketers can ensure they have the budget they need to be effective with online advertising and get the right tools to make that argument.